Truth felt light and green, but a lie sunk to the floor,

The kitchen was enormous, with an ancient pine table long enough to seat a dozen and a huge black stove, the sort that hadn’t been sold for decades.

“Aunt Isabelle always says that every guest should bring a gift when visiting. Even if that guest is unwanted.

No one knew who had fathered her child or could fathom how she came to build such a fine house when she was a woman alone with no apparent means of support.

April had been to several private schools and each time had been asked to leave. She didn’t believe in authority and was a born radical.

“I love fairy tales,” Jet said dreamily. She felt like a water nymph when she floated in the lake, a pure elemental spirit.

Here was a repository of a woman’s knowledge, collected and passed on.

“He’s not a familiar,” Franny said. “He’s a foundling.”

Franny had decided that magic was not so very far from science. Both endeavors searched for meaning where there was none, light in the darkness, answers to questions too difficult for mortals to comprehend.